The Spirit of the Hainault - Hardcover

by Len Taphouse (Author)

Angel had been to the cinema on his night off and was returning through the blackout to the hotel where he lived and worked as a chef. As he reached the end of his road, he found that the hotel and most of the houses had been bombed and razed to the ground. He immediately decided that he would volunteer for the services and get his own back on Hitler... Weeks later he joined the 4367 he asked someone, "What's that big hook for"? "That's what we tow with, we are a tug you know".

The lights that the Master had seen through the torrential rain were the lights of a pumping station and were only about half a mile in front of him. He made a hasty turn to port and unfortunately ran the ship up on to a ledge at the end of the wadi... By this time the wind and waves were pounding the vessel and some of her hatch covers had been swept away.

As Taffy came round and opened his eyes, he said drearily, "That's a helluva way to raise a sunken U-Boat".

"What's in the drums", he asked. "Sodium metal, its stored in paraffin and when exposed to air, it burns with terrific heat and becomes explosive in contact with water... A few of the drums that had been dumped overboard caused underwater explosions that resembled depth charges.

They began a 180degree turn to bring the storm over the stern. Part-way through the manoeuvre, the helmsman gave a high-pitched scream, as they looked over the starboard side. What they saw was what they only dreamt in nightmares. Less than 1000yards away was a giant wave at least 80ft high, with its crest hovering ready to engulf anything in its path.